In Ganddal I gave some clothes, camping equipment, books and my computer to Hanne to take with her back to Trondheim. I stayed the night with Heidi, and sat infront of the computer updating my blog. The cycling trip resumed from Ganddal around midday the next day. In the morning we had wet snow and rain, so I put off my departure time. Finally I left, following Riksvej 44 from Ganddal.
After the west coast this was absolutely flat! As they say, like Denmark. I kicked-arse in time, taking less than three hours to get to Ogna from Gandall. Rv44 cuddles the coast at one point, where one can find large rocks that are skattered accross the shore line at Årsland, just south of Varhaug. At this site is also an old burial site and there is information about it along side the road in a rest stop. After Ogna, I decided to take the cycle route again to cut off kilometres and save time. From Ogna it is a straight line to Egersund. Ironic, because here the terrain changed a little. Not only that, it began to be off-road.
First I cycled through a farm that grew only flowers in greenhouses. This answers my question whether or not Norway could grow flowers. As I went through, the way was blocked by a bacco and large boulders. They were landscaping the area so it look better. As I waited for the path to be cleared, I chatted to the owner of the farm about a TV show on either NRK or TV2 about a Danish man that went to North Norway, volunteered on a farm, learnt how to farm, enjoyed it, moved back home and began a farm and has volunteers on the farm to help him. It made me think of WWOOFing (http://www.wwoof.org).
With the way cleared the road was mine, all the way up and down, up and down, up and down. Loose gravel and steep hills, just with a thouch of wind. Although the views were spectacular, you can imagine how glad I was to arrive in Egersund. The town of Egersund is one of those town that if you blink you will miss it. So do not blink. I went to Kiwi bought food and went hunting for a rest stop that I could hitch a tent in. 9km south, I found one. With a funny rock statue thing, that I am still trying to work out what it was.
At the rest stop, I pitched my tent, cooked and read Les Miserables. In the night it rained. In the morning everything was ice. I packed up and headed to Flekkefjord. Even though it is not a long trek along Rv44 to Flekkefjord, the roads are steep next to and along side fjords, valleys and rivers. Keep that in mind if you want to cycle the North Sea Route or the west of Norway.
Flekkefjord was great. I CouchSurfed and ate pizza. My host and I practiced German the whole time. The town was beautiful and looks better at sunset, than at sunrise. Cycling along the fjords again, I arrived just after lunch at Kvinesdal. The sun was shinning and I was thursty for UV. So, I got into my undies and layed on the terace for around three hours, before I ventured out to the town centre that made Egersund look like Oslo in comparison. So after buying food and not really accomplishing much, I went back to my CouchSurfing place and chilled on the patio. My host took me to the look out point, the golf course and for a drive around the area. Whcih covers all of the attractions.
I cannot stress it enough, but cycling up fjords is hard! I cycled from Kvinesdal to Lista along Fedafjorden, FMD, I got over it. I wanted to throw my bike away, hitchhike and just be finished with it. Just up and down. It is hard work and it is tiring! I was frustrated on on the last climb before the descent to Jølle and Lista, when I looked right, to see Fedafjorden and two other fjords coming together, with boats, birds and cosy houses speckled around...
That is why I do this.
Jølle is a small village with the best outlook. I could buy here. Around the corner are rock calvings, and archaeology site and a fort. Down the road is Lista Fyret (the Lista Lighthouse). The cycle from Lista to Lyngdal is great. Farsund is the envy of most summer and boating villages and if you spend and arfternoon there, you will see why. Riksvej 43
to Lyngdal was fast. The three new tunnels cut off so much time. 400m, 800m and 950m. Not too bad.
In Lyngdal I was tired, but I stayed up chatting to my young host about travel oppotunities in Australia. After a late night to bed, I decided to take my time in the morning, before I headed to Mandal. The most important thing on the way to Mandal is Lindesnes, the most southern point of MAINLAND Norway. The MOST southern point of Norway is an island just east of Mandal. Which later I discovered was NOT in Søgne as I was informed by a particular person. So after I left Mandal and my wonderful animal loving host, I headed to Søgne to fins the most southern point, but then realised it was the wrong information, and headed to Kristiansand.
Gammel Post Veien (the Old Post Road) is a nice way to come into Kristiansand. Though it is a bit steep, sandy and with loose gravel. The road ofter it, heading towards Kristiansand is great. Even though I missed my turn-off and had to push my bike back up to Tinnheia.
I was very proud of myself - I managed to CourchSurf most days from Heidi's in Ganddal to Daniel, Ivar and Frode's in Kristiansand. So thanks Lasse, Erling, Sandra, Beate, Daniel, Frode and Ivar. :-)
After arriving in Kristiansand, I showered, cleaned my cooking utensils, washed my clothes and went to the shops. Pretty ordinary. After a great dinner with ym host from CouchSurfing.com, we ventured to a bible school to watch a gospel choir. I was pretty happy to go, I have never seen a gospel choir live. Although I do not follow the preaching side of things, I enjoy the energy, the song and sound. When we arrived, there was a cover band playing - now this was awesome! It reminded me of Blue King Brown, an Australian roots/regge band that sings much about politics. The rhythm was fantastic, I had no idea what the singers were signing about, but the two drummers, guitarist and bassist were mind blowing. That was sex.
Next, the gospel group. I am picturing the cleche - black choir in red and gold gown, singing and dancing. Not the case here. Though there were around 40 voices, primarily women. They started off strong, but my interest was lost with the preaching in between and the slow maunful songs that reduced the energy level to a sombre mood near the end that made for periods of intermission. The lyrics to all of the songs were rather simple. No complex use of the english language. Repetitive. The factor that made one enjoy the songs was more the music and the vocal use then the lyrical content. Then again, if I am to judge, I should go see another couple of choirs sing and made a better informed judgment.
Here I saw a mixed blend of people. People that one normally associated with punks, drug users and hard-core rockers, were blended in with timid and child-like adults. Young students were the dominant crowd with a sprinkle of other religions and races. It seemed, from what I saw and heard that there was a larger number than expectd of people that smoked and were about to go out. I noticed the clothing people wore, not at all modest for manyt, cars were very luxurious for a few also. So it was like a normal crowd really. I then began to think about people I met during my stay in Europe.
Do people use religion, no matter which type or form of, to ease the guilt of their choices in life? Or does religion add to and compound guilt in one's life? I was asked once when I was in South Tyrol, "if you have no religion, where to you get your strength to live?" I simply replied "I give it to myself".
Anyhow, I could go on with philosophies of life and distract from my experiences from Norway and my travels. but to move on to other things. If you are cycling, beware of Norwegian drivers. The cut cornes and speed a lot. The entire country is pretty much mountains, but the insit on over-taking each other around corners and on hills. Just be careful if you are cycling and try stick to recommended roads and quite roads if you must go uphill...
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